Wednesday 7 May 2008

Beras oh beras, kenapa engkau kurang?

Saya ni mungkin tak reti apa tentang mekanisme-mekanisme kerajaan dalam hal beras ni. Yang saya tau ialah apa yang saya dengaq. latest saya dengaq ialah arahan kepada Bernas untuk tingkatkan bekalan beras. Itu arahan yang baik tapi separuh saja.

Bernas deal dalam hal makanan ruji rakyat Malaysia. Makanan ruji ni mesti lah dianggap sebagai National Security sebab tanpa nya orang boleh mati. Kalau tak mati pun banyak orang akan hidup susah. Pendek kata, kita lebih memerlukan beras yang mencukupi dan mampu dibeli daripada 1000 Sukhoi dan 100 kapal selam, baru atau pun second hand.

Kerajaan adalah bertanggungjawab untuk menentukan bekalan bahan makanan ini adalah mencukupi. Dia suka ka tak suka, dia ada masa ka dia tak ada masa ka itu tak releven. Yang releven ialah dia pastikan bahan ini cukup dan mampu dibeli.

Rakyat tak mau dengar cerita yang negara luar tak mau ekspot. Itu dia punya pasal. Kalau Thailand tak mau ekspot, itu Thailand punya pasal. Soalannya bukan mengapa Thailand atau Vietnam atau China tak mau ekspot, persoalannya ialah bagaimana negara-negara ini boleh ada lebihan sampai boleh diekspot padahal dia mempunyai lebih ramai rakyat?

Kenapa, mereka di negara-negara ini ada forsight bahawa self-sufficiency dalam bekalan makanan ruji adalah sangat penting. Jangan kata ini sebab mereka lebih pentingkan pertanian, sebab Thailand dan China juga negara industry yang hebat. Jangan kata tanah mereka subur sebab tanah kita tidak kurang suburnya. Jangan kata mereka dapat banyak hujan sebab kita pun melimpah ruah dengan hujan.

Mereka tahu yang dalam hal makanan ruji sesebuah negara tidak harus berharap kepada negara lain sebab bila keadaan bekalan menjadi kritikal, negara pembekal itu akan mengutamakan rakyat dia sendiri. Mengapa kita yang tidak kurang dengan tanah subur tidak berusaha kearah ini dari dulu lagi?

Adakah sebab, tanah-tanah ini jika di convert kan ke tanah commercial nilai dia lebih tinggi? Dalam keadaan di mana bekalan tak cukup, boleh kah kita sekarang korek tanah commercial ini dan tanak untuk di makan?

Mengapa tidak di rehabilitate kan bekas-bekas sawah padi? Kenapa mesti tunggu bila dah kritikal baru nak bertindak? Adakah kalau terlalu banyak padi tempatan ada di pasaran Bernas akan jadi redundant?

Okay, sekarang ni kita tolak sebelah persoalan-persoalan itu semua. Ini tidak bermakna persoalan-persoalan itu tak perlu dijawab. Yang penting sekarang ialah bekalan dah berkurangan merata tempat. Mengarahkan Bernas tingkatkan bekalan sahaja tidak cukup. Bernas mesti tingkatkan bekalan dan pasti harga dikawal.

Sepatutnya Bernas dibubarkan saja sebab dia menguntungkan beberapa pihak saja. Bernas sepatutnya beroperasi seperti satu koperasi di mana rakyat keseluruhannya adalah ahlinya. Ahli mesti dapat faedah daripada koperasinya. Faedah yang dituntut di sini ialah harga yang berpatutan. Pernah seorang pegawai koperasi berkata dalam satu AGM koperasi sekolah saya dulu bahawa dia tak mau lihat koperasi membuat keuntungan beribu-ribu sebab itu bermakna koperasi itu mengambil keuntungan daripada ahli. Kopersi itu sepatutnya memberi keuntungan kepada ahlinya dengan menjual barangan dengan harga murah. Biar koperasi itu untung hanya RM50 kerana ini bermakna ahli-ahli mendapat keuntungan yang maksima. Saya pegang pada konsep ini.

Kerajaan patutnya mengarahkan Bernas beroperasi mengikut konsep ini, bukan mengambil untung berpuluh-puluh malahan beratus-ratus juta tapi rakyat sengsara kerana harga beras tinggi.

Bila nak bertindak? Harga semakin naik dan bekalan semakin kurang.

32 comments:

HeadLiner said...

Sure you can link...anything for a fellow Red Devil !
:)

Have been supporting them since 1974...you ?

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

you said it right boss. makanan ruji ni vital dslam kehidupan harian kita, dan patut dikategorikan sebagai national security. i cant go a day without a plate or 4 of rice, or i'll go nuts. tak caya tanya shah.

Toilet paper said...

ya make it national security just like Japan..
napa negara lain boleh buat tapi negara kita tak boleh??
mekanisme kekurangan makanan tidak boleh berlaku sekarang terutamanya beras sekiranya tindakan awal diambil..apa Bernas buat selama ni??

cakapaje said...

Salam Cikgu,

Ni lah sedihnya bila Sarkas memerintah - Masterplan dah lama mereka sndiri buat, tapi semenjak chedet naik dulu, ianya diketepikan begitu saja. In fact, sekali tu waktu pi seminar POLAR, ada speaker matsaleh terang terang kutuk kerajaan sarkas mengenai perkara ini - cakap tak serupa bikin, bikin pula tak serupa tulis! Hempeh!

Er...pasal kerp tu, apa kata kita tong duit reramai dan hantaq dia kat Kutub Selatan di mana takdak nasi...sure naya no :)

Toilet paper said...

mari kita tanam padi atas bumbung macam dulu menteri tu plan..ntah lupa da nama menteri tu..

Anonymous said...

Kalaupun tanah bendang tak diconvert ke penggunaan yang lebih commercial, kebanyakannya dah lama terbiar. Mengusahakan tanaman padi tidak mendatangkan keuntungan yang tinggi dan menunggu hasilnya tersangat lama. Sudah berdekad-dekad anak2 muda sebaik sahaja lepas sekolah terus berhijrah ke bandar untuk bekerja di kilang dan tapak pembinaan (bagi mereka yang tidak menyambung pelajaran atau tidak mendapat pekerjaan yang baik). Tiada galakan untuk mereka menceburi bidang pertanian walaupun pernah ada banyak institut pertanian di negara ini. Universiti Pertanian pun ada, sekarang dah tak pertanian lagi. Tak tau di mana depa spend depa punya million. Nak kata on R&D, mana hasilnya? Yang kita lihat apa2 breakthru dalam bidang pertanian adalah atas usaha petani sndiri yang mengimport teknik serta teknologi dari negara lain. Pertanian di Malaysia berkos tinggi dan hasilnya rendah, sapa nak ceburi bidang pertanian? Lebih baik pi industri pembuatan, return tinggi, volume tinggi tak terhad macam pertanian. Budak2 lebih suka pi kerja kilang ada gaji tetap dan boleh bersosial. Jadi petani tak glamor tak dak duit, comot, jelaga, busuk, dsb. Yang jelas dasar kerajaan dalam bidang pertanian hanya sekadar melepaskan batuk di tangga. Pemberian subsidi baja, racun dan benih tidak membantu petani kerana apa yang lebih diperlukan adalah latihan dan sokongan pasaran serta jaminan pendapatan yang tinggi yang boleh menyaingi kerjaya lain. Malah pihak lain seperti pembekal, pemakan komisyen, dan saudagar oportunis, pula yang mendapat keuntungan dengan pelbagai helah dan muslihat mereka. Pertanian tak maju2 juga. Tapi kalau diperhatikan betul-betul, di negara luar, negara yang sektor pertaniannya maju, kerajaan tak campur tangan pun. Jadi kos-kos yang tak ketahuan tu tak dak, kalau kos satu produk tu seringgit, seringgit la dia. Di Malaysia ni kos seringgit ada plus plus sampai jadi tiga empat ringgit, jadi manalah pengeluar nak untung? Sampai ada barang yang lebih murah diimport siap daripada diproses di sini. Contoh beras la. Kos tinggi profit margin kurang, mana tak naik harga? Nanti yang ambil kesempatan orang yang dapat permit import beras dari Australia. Beras Australia murah wei, gemuk2 pulak tu.

tokasid said...

Salam che'gu:

Yes,food esp staple food is of National Security. Its the most important part of national survival.
Once a country has to depend on others for their food they have actually being colonised invisibly.

We made a mistake few decades ago when we think by being an industrialised nation we have to put our agriculture sector at page 28 of a 30 pages book.
In our eagerness to be a developed nation many young one abandoned the agriculture field and become factory workers. Afer a decade or so, the agriculture sector suffered badly. many padi fields were abandoned esp in the central and southern areas of the penisular. Subsequently these abandoned padi fields were converted into industrial parks and many factories were erected.

Over the years we depend our staple padi supply from the northern states of Kedah,Perlis,parts of Seberang Prai and northern Perak and the coastal areas of Selangor. As our population grew we have supplies of rice brought in from our ASEAN neighbours of Thailand,Vietnam and Burma.And recently from China too.

However the unfortunates happened and some of these countries experienced disasters(natural and made made).Naturally the staple food supply for their own countries becomes a priority(which we too will do the same) and they are cutting down on exports.

Then we landed ourself into trouble.Staple food became expensive. Suppliers and retailers started their own 'sorok-menyorok' to increase prices. And inevitably prices soars to the ceiling.

We need a long term policy to overcome this. Lip service from politicians is useless.The govt must be comitted for a long term plan about our padi production. We do not need a programme which will be changed or abandoned after a few years when the food crisis is over.
we must not depend from others to grow our staple food.We must not allow our country to be colonised invisibly.

Unknown said...

headliner,
Thanx. been a devil since the mud sixties while still in primary school.

Unknown said...

kerp,
1 or 4 pinggan. You are the one who suffer most if there is a cut in supply.

Unknown said...

Toilet paper,
Yes, kenapa negara lain boleh. Political will is the answer.

Unknown said...

Shah,
Yes, I heard about the masterplan but it remained a plan. In our desire to join the race to be a developed country we completely forgot about agriculture sampai uni pertanian pun di tukar nama ke uni Putra.

Unknown said...

Hantu,
This story was related to me by someone about 10 years ago. A resourceful young man, went around the northern region looking at unused or abandoned padi land. he did his calculations whereby these land could be rehabilitate through modern farming using Thai labour. The end result would be improved yield and the process would not lose money.
He took his working paper to Bank Pertanian and he was shown the door.
That was how serious we were about agriculture. Yes money can buy anything but they forgot that money could only buy something that exists. When there is no rice, what is there to buy, even if we have the money.

Unknown said...

Doc,
Ni la jadi bila tak mau dekatkan diri dengan tanah kurniaan tuhan. Kita bukan Africa yang gersang, kita negara yang subur, tapi kalau semua yang nak dibuat mesti dikira keuntungan kepada kroni saja tentu la penanaman padi di ketepikan sebab kurang glamour.
Lani depa cakap pasai food stockpile pulak. Lepaih tu depa lantik kroni dengan adik beradik untuk beli barangan ini dan jual kepada kerajaan. Kroni senyum all the way to the bank dan kita akan terpaksa beli barangan ini at higher prices, you just watch la doc.
Aku rasa lani dah ada dah proposal UMNO2Putra yang mendapat financial backing oleh tokey2 kaya untuk kononnya bantu setup stockpile tu.

Unknown said...

bagus tanam padi di belakang rumah sendiri....ta ya risau pasal beras..lgipun tak ya belih...

Hi&Lo said...

Sir,

With all the money in the world but our stomach is empty, what good does it do?

Many incidents in the past 2 decades, farmlands were forcibly converted into housing estates. Those land were fertile and suitable for growing vegetables and crops.

Many farmers in those days occupied the land under temporary occupancy licence. How much could these farmers develop their land under a cloud of uncertainty and zero incentive?

It's not that farming cannot be lucrative. As you said the political will was not there.

After the old Umno was made defunct, its successor emplaced getting rich quick as its mantra.

Pak Zawi said...

Che'gu,
RPK once blogged about Bernas and he said it is Shahidans cash cow. The less rice is produced the more he can import and Bernas being the sole importer makes tons of money. APs boleh guna berkali kali.
Ini Chedet punya kerja la kasi dia.

Anonymous said...

I think I know that story Che'Gu. The problem with rice cultivation in Malaysia is that it was traditional and meant for self consumption. Over the years padi lands are so divided and become small plots for each family and thus not economical to pursue further. The effort of this young man was to intergrate all the individual plots to form one large farm making it possible to embark on a medium scale padi farming using modern method and machineries. "Gila ka hang nak beli Kubota, Caterpillar... hang beli bas 7 8 bijik buat meniaga bas ekspres lagi untung." Like we all don't need rice. It's RM3 per kilo now in my place, it's going to be RM4 next week the shopkeeper said. Flour is cheaper then. I think we all better start eating rotis.

Anonymous said...

Salam che gu,

nak belajar buat capati?
senang makan capati aje lah.

inderjeet

monsterball said...

Next...to cover up their short sightedness and stupid management...Rias Yatim will call for rationing..saying Malaysians are growing too fat like kata tak nak...and monsterball.
Just look at them....wit their big stomatch.......but leaving out UMNO hundreds....really fat...eat and sleep...no work...like Samy Vellu...they...choosing victims like poor KTM and Monty. Not fair.
They will give a long talk...in TV...papers....how slim people can live a more healthy lives.....so cut down your rice consumptions.

Unknown said...

duku,
Better stil tanam atas bangunan la seperti kata Sanusi Junid dulu.

Unknown said...

hi&lo,
It looks like our leaders do not know how to set their priorities right. Their priorities start with themselves.

Unknown said...

zawi,
Tepat sekali. Chedet screw up big time by destroying our agriculture sector. He could always develope both sectors simultenously but no he cjose the Industrial sector and heavy industry and yet we are bejind Thailand in manufacturing and heavy industry. They go one up with being very advance in agriculture. Kita duduk nganga.

Unknown said...

hantu
I don't want to sound like I am trying to create a panic but I heard the price of rice would go up 3 times in the not too distant future.

Unknown said...

inder,
Bila semua makan roti, kroni depa akan berebut untuk import gandum pulak.

Unknown said...

Monty,
yes, they will blame fat people for eating all the rice. They do not know that I eat only one small plate of rice a day. They should put Kerp under ISA because he eats 4 plates a single seating. He is a danger to National Security.
Kerp,
You better hide, the SBs are watching you.

Anonymous said...

Hasn't Pak Lah allocated RM3 bill for food security?

This food shortage issue is really scary, but it's also a world wide phenomenon, so I guess you have to look at it at many aspects. There are many things the government can do about it, but some things can't be avoided. The best thing now is to be prepared.

Unknown said...

Farzain,
Just my point since it is a world phenomenom it means we could no longer rely on our traditional exporters for this product. If they themselves are having difficulty to meet their own demand than no amount of money could solve it.

Pak Lah started off by talking about agriculture and so many years after it has been mere talk. How many extra acres of padi land were opened?

If he has done right I would say bits right but when he screw up then I would say he screwed up. Don't talk about scarcity of land, there is plenty of land/ Don't talk about scarcity of labour when we could import labour for industry.

What has his RMbillion done to the spiralling cost of rice? From what I know, people certain countries in Asia are buying up rice from producing countries at prices higher than the price we buy. If we have enough production than who cares what these countries are doing. Since we don't, we should pee in our pants.

peensandad said...

Yes, Yes, Yes!
Kita dah dapat kerajaan (current) (dah survive 50Tahun) yang sangat hebat hinggakan Dasar Pertaninan (vr POK LAH DUIT) telah diwujudkan dan rakyat kebulur, skrang ni 40-50% kenaikan beras. Kita tunggu dia naik... 50-60% pastu.. kita gi kedai makan...

RAKYAT : mamak, nasi goreng satu piring...
MAMAK : sorry la encik... beras habis... nak bagi makan bini pun x mampu... niscafe kosong adala.. mau?
RAKYAT : air paip sijala...

rastom said...

Rakyat Malaysia Sarkas: Dr M seorang yang berwawasan.Kita patut kenang jasa jasa dia. Yang hampa dok kutuk dia pasai apa?

Rakyat Marhaen: Wawasan dia lah ni. Harga beras mahai, harga padi murah. Orang buat bendang tak boleh berapa duit, orang jual beras yang buat untung. La ni kalau hampa tak dak apa nak makan, pi lah tokak besi Perwaja, makan produk produk hi-tech di Kulim tu, lepas tu ragaih naik KLCC kot mau kenyang. TREK F1 di Sepang pun boleh hampa mentekadarah. Kereta kereta Proton yang tak boleh compete dalam pasaran tu pun kot kot hampa boleh makan.

Rakyat Sarkas: tu dia la hampa, tak tau kenang jasa budi orang. Tak tau bersyukur.

Rakyat Marhaen : Bersyukur kat Mahadet?

Unknown said...

developnohates.
Saya sangat suka nini,
RAKYAT : air paip sijala...

Unknown said...

rastom,
Bersyukur kat Madet? Gila ka depa ni semua. Bersyukur kat orang yang mulakan semua bencana ni semua?

Unknown said...

Check this out!

http://24abib.blogspot.com/2008/05/thestrange.html

Weird !!

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